Murder charge stayed against accused Calgary gang member

Accused gang leader Nicholas Chan walked out of a Calgary court on Tuesday instead of standing trial for murder in connection to the death of a man in 2008.

Chan was charged with the first-degree murder of Kevin Anaya who was gunned down almost ten years ago.

He was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder and directing a criminal organization and was supposed to face a jury for trial.

On Tuesday morning, a judge stayed three charges against the 39-year-old ruling that the case took too long to get to trial.

“We were all waiting to have the jury sworn and the judge came, rendered a decision that had been argued some time ago and the result of that was the case was stayed by the court and so as a result of that the case is now over and didn’t go to the jury," said Crown Prosecutor, Steven Johnson.

Chan was released after the judge ruled that the Crown's star witness would not be allowed to testify. He is now a free man and was released without conditions.

Calgary police released a statement on the decision saying…

The Calgary Police Service is aware of today’s decision by the court to stay all charges against Nicholas Chan. We will await the Judge’s written decision and review it to better understand the reasons for this.

As the appeal process remains available to the Crown Prosecutor’s Office, we will not comment further on the matter as to allow the judicial process to remain unprejudiced.

The office of Alberta's Minister of Justice and Solicitor General released the following statement Tuesday afternoon:

"The Crown received the court’s decision this morning, and will review the judge’s reasoning onceit has been received before determining if they will appeal the judicial Jordan stay of the charges in the Nick Chan case. The Crown has taken immediate steps to review this matter with their Appeals Branch. As this case remains before the courts, due to the Crown having 30-days in which to appeal, it would be inappropriate to comment in more detail."

According to the Justice and Solicitor General's office, there have been 13 cases in Alberta that have been judicially stayed and 18 cases in Alberta that have been proactively stayed by the Crown under the Jordan decision. Of the 31 cases to by stayed, Nick Chan's is the only murder case.